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Manila says China reclaiming land in disputed sea

Jim Gomez Associated Press

Updated:
05/13/2014 11:13:27 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has protested China's efforts to reclaim land in a disputed reef in the South China Sea that can be used to build any facility, including an airstrip or an offshore military base in the increasingly volatile region, the country's top diplomat and other officials said Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told The Associated Press that the Philippines lodged the protest against China last month after surveillance aircraft confirmed, and took pictures of the reclamation and dredging being done by Chinese vessels at the Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands, which Manila says violates a regional non-aggression pact.

China has replied to the Philippine protest by saying that the reef belonged to it, he said.

Del Rosario said it's not clear what China would build on the reef, which Manila claims as part of its western province of Palawan, but one possibility is an airstrip. Another official says China can also build an off-shore military base.

"We're not exactly sure what are their intentions there," Del Rosario said.

Another senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the issue, said China's reclamation was first detected by air force planes six months ago. When the Philippine government deployed aircraft to help search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in March, the planes also spotted the continuing reclamation on the submerged Johnson Reef by at least one Chinese ship backed by smaller vessels.

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It's the latest territorial spat between the Asian neighbors that have ratcheted tensions in the potentially oil- and gas-rich region, which also straddles one of the world's busiest sea lanes.